Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Fly Fishing Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Topic Review (Newest First)

10-21-2006 08:51 AM

t_richerzhagen

Collar

in front of the wing also makes the small head easy to produce. It does change the look a little.

10-20-2006 12:35 AM

flytyer

Another tip for having a smaller head on hairwing: tie in half to 3/4ths of the wing before the hackle and clip the butts, then tie in the hackle and wrap it, followed by tying in the final 1/4 to 1/2 of the wing. This means you are forming the head over a lot less material and also makes the wing look fuller without having more bulk; thus producing a sleek, swimming fly.

10-18-2006 07:33 AM

Charlie

Guys,

Thanks for the complements on the heads. Some things you may want to keep in mind when doing them is, first, leave plenty of space in front of the body of the fly to make the head. This is one of the bigger mistakes I see people make. If you do not leave space for the head you end up piling thread on top of materials that have already been tied off and this adds bulk to the head.

Another mistake I see made is not to properly finish the head. A tier will make a nice fly with a fairly small head then they will be afraid to add more thread to smooth the head out for fear of increasing it’s size. Sure its small, but it looks lumpy and sloppy. The head on the CZ Special is not all that small but it looks neat because I added some extra thread to smooth it out.

And lastly, I usually put several coats of head cement on them. At least two coats, sometimes three or even four depending on how thin the head cement is and how many lumps I need to smooth out.

Charlie

P.S. Thanks for the tips flytyer, we don’t get chums in my area but I have been looking for some good flies for kings.

10-13-2006 09:41 AM

Smolt

Your flies are always a pleasure to look at.

I agree with Dwayne regarding the heads on your flies. Do you have any tips on producing flies with small heads that you would share?

CK

10-12-2006 07:58 PM

SALMONCHASER

Charlie, your heads alone are a thing of beauty!!! You are an awesome fly tier!!!!
Dwayne.
aka Salmon Chaser

10-11-2006 07:16 PM

flytyer

Charlie,

This "green" fly looks like it would be a good one to try for our west coast kings and chums, especially when they are in the lower river at or just above tidewater. It might also be of use when winter fishing in glacial rivers when they have a tinge of glacial till in them.

10-11-2006 03:30 PM

Charlie

Atlantic Salmon Fly of the week – C. Z. Special

This is another fly that is very popular on the Penobscot river in Maine. It was invented by Claude Z. Westfall of Orono, Maine. Westfall is known for fishing only his own patterns on the Penobscot.